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Friday, January 24, 2014

Correspondence with Coleman: Seahawks Fullback Makes a New Friend

The Seattle Seahawks have been quite
the buzz lately, and, perhaps oddly, they have made their way into
this blog as well. However, This story has nothing to do with the
Super Bowl. In fact, it has little to do with football at all. This
story is about Seahawks fullback Derrick Coleman and his recent
correspondence with one of his biggest little fans and her twin
sister.

Two weeks ago, Duracell dropped an
advertisement featuring Coleman and his inspiring life story.

Coleman is the NFL's first legally deaf
offensive player. He has been deaf since he was three years old and
requires hearing aids in order to make out most sounds. During his
final two seasons at UCLA, before getting offered a spot in Seattle,
Coleman rushed for more than 1,200 yards and scored sixteen
touchdowns. Still, evaluators worried that his hearing impairment
would effect his play. Former UCLA coach Rich Neuheisel insisted that
Coleman's disability was not a problem and in fact made him a very
conscientious and self-sufficient player. Coleman went undrafted, but
was eventually offered a spot on Seattle's practice team in December
2012. He took the opportunity to prove himself.

After seeing the Duracell commercial, a
little girl who is also deaf wrote a letter to Coleman. The empathy
and genuineness of this letter is incredibly endearing.

And then Coleman wrote back:

Never underestimate the power of a
handwritten letter! I hope you've had a smile today and have many
more throughout the weekend.